Door, dog, nerves shot in break-in attempt

Pet seems OK; scared mother plans to get gun.

Pet seems OK; scared mother plans to get gun.

October 09, 2008|DAVE STEPHENS Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- A boy dressed only in underwear swings on the screen door Wednesday morning as his mom talks about buying a gun. The three bullet holes are still fresh in Rachel Laughman's front door, like the untreated bullet wound still festering in the shoulder of her pet Rottweiler mix. "The first thing I did this morning was go down to the police station to get my gun permit," said Laughman, 39, the mother of four. "I don't let people bring guns into my house, but what else can I do?" Just before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, an unknown man tried to force his way, gun first, into Laughman's home in the 1100 block of North O'Brien Street. A 32-year-old man, who lives at the home and asked not to be identified, said he was asleep on the living room couch when he heard the screen door opening. The man walked toward the door, he said, but saw the home's wooden door opening and what he thought was the barrel of a rifle being pushed into the room. "So I just started slamming on the door, trying to keep it shut," the man said. The intruder on the other side pulled the gun back out. The man inside said he got on the floor and held the door shut, as someone pounded on it from outside. Then there were three shots. One of the bullets hit the side of a big-screen TV. One hit the floor. The third hit the dog. Police were called, and three small-caliber bullet casings and an unused 12-gauge shotgun shell were found on the home's porch. Laughman said a medic checked on the dog, the family's pet for seven years, but said the bullet seemed to have passed through with little damage. "I'm trying to find a vet who'll work on him," Laughman said. "But he seems to be doing OK." With 10 people living in the home, Laughman said, she feels blessed that no one was hurt, even as she wonders why it happened. A police report confirmed the facts of the incident, but indicated there was no known motive for the shooting and attempted home invasion. Laughman, however, points to the teenagers on her block who sometimes fight with her kids and have occasionally flashed guns. "They're always walking by the house, making threats and talking about how it's their turf," Laughman said. "It's not like it used to be." Laughman said her family moved to the neighborhood 14 years ago, when it was filled with older, quieter neighbors. "Now you got new people in here all the time, who don't know me or know what's going on," Laughman said. "Now it's more violent." Despite the changes and the recent violence, Laughman said her family isn't moving. The boy, still pestering his mom for attention, slams the wooden door shut, the bullet holes looking like missing spots in the door's dirty white paint. "All I'm trying to do," Laughman says, pausing to look at her son as he runs away, "is raise my kids."Staff writer Dave Stephens: dstephens@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6209